MURFREESBORO – The Murfreesboro City Council approved an offer of $1.55 million for former First United Methodist Church on East College Street at its meeting Thursday night.

"To me it means as much to me as Big Ben to London or the Coliseum to Rome," Councilman Eddie Smotherman said before Councilman Bill Shacklett made a motion to approve the offer.

The council voted unanimously in favor of buying the structure.

Councilman Rick LaLance said he didn't support the city encouraging "just more apartments," but he would be interested in the city using the property for its own purposes, like an office space or archives in the bell tower would be "awfully cool." LaLance noted he was married in the church.

Mayor Shane McFarland said the idea came from Main Street: Murfreesboro/Rutherford County, which is charged with promoting and preserving downtown. The city can pay cash for the building, he said.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Gloria Bonner, chairwoman of the Main Street board while addressing the City Council during its public comment period.

According to a letter to the mayor and City Council, City Manager Rob Lyons suggested offering Franklin Synergy Bank $1.55 million for the 1.87-acre property that contains the former United Methodist Church, classrooms and gymnasium that are being used as bank offices, and an outbuilding.

Franklin Synergy had the property appraised for more than $1.6 million in 2015. The Rutherford County Property Assessor appraised the property at $2.2 million, according to the letter.

The bank would pay rent to the city until final plans were agreed upon.

The city already owns the 0.6-acre parking lot at 123 E. College St., making it possible for the city to guide the development of the entire block, Lyons said.

“Like the Gateway, the city would have the ability to only entertain offers that are consistent with its goals and objectives,” Lyons said in the letter.

He also suggested structuring the process like the Gateway, which is guided by city staff but final decisions are left to the five-member Gateway Commission.

During the public comment period, Jeff Rainwater expressed his concern about the city overreaching its authority by constricting the free market, calling it “land speculation.” Rainwater ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the council in 2014.

“This should be a private-sector issue,” Rainwater said, adding the city could put in an overlay district or other means to preserve the building.

But the 127-year-old church is not on the National Register of Historic Places nor is it located within the city’s historic district, Lyons explained.

“There are no regulations, ordinances or programs that would prevent the demolition of the building or mandate a special-approval process,” Lyons said in the letter.

But with the proper incentives, the city could guide the preservation of the church’s bell tower, at least, and keep a portion of the church building in any proposed plans, he said.

Lyons said the city has begun a study into offering tax-incentive financing for the Methodist church property and other land along Lytle Street.

TIF incentives encourage redevelopment of blighted areas by reducing a developer’s tax burden by setting the property taxes at current levels for a set amount of time and applying taxes from the improved value to the cost of development. The usual time frame is 20 years.

TIF incentives create a revenue stream for developers to self-finance pay-down debt on the project.

In May, Lee Moss, Rutherford County president of Franklin Synergy Bank, confirmed the bank is looking for a new owner for its historic building on the corner of Church and College streets in Murfreesboro.

The bank placed the old First United Methodist Church building for sale with the intention of doing a lease-back contract with the eventual owner, Moss said at the time.

In the months since, Franklin Synergy has introduced plans to build a new office on Medical Center Parkway. In August, Moss said the bank wants a presence both in downtown Murfreesboro and on Medical Center Parkway.

First United Methodist Church, where Moss is a member of the congregation, moved about a decade ago to 20 donated acres on Thompson Lane near Siegel High School.

Contact Michelle Willard at 615-278-5164, on Twitter at @MichWillard or at facebook.com/DNJBusiness.